L-town girls begin defense of state title with a No. 2 seed

Regional high school playoff previews

Friday, Oct. 30, 2009

Second-seeded Northern (9-1-2), the two-time reigning champion of the 3A South, is an automatic choice to advance back to the regional final for a chance at a third straight berth into the state semifinals.

A pair of Prince George's County programs in Friendly and Largo –– hailing from a league that lacks the talent and competitiveness of the SMAC –– clash in the quarterfinals of the lower half of the bracket that Northern is situated in. Northern's quarterfinal opponent is the winner of the Westlake-Lackey first-round game slated for Friday. Westlake (0-12) and Lackey (1-11) have a combined one win in 23 games, and both handily lost to Northern during the regular season by 7-0 and 6-0 outcomes, respectively.

Beating Westlake or Lackey would advance Northern to the regional semifinals against the winner of the Friendly-Largo encounter. Northern would be an overwhelming favorite in that game too.

Huntingtown (10-1-1), on the other hand, has its work cut out after a first-round bye. The winner of the Chopticon-Crossland first-round affair today moves on to play Huntingtown in the regional quarterfinals Tuesday. And Chopticon is favored to beat Crossland.

The regional semifinals contest for Huntingtown, should it remain alive, would be against a pair of dark-horse foes in fourth-seeded Stone or randomly fifth-seeded La Plata.

"Being the No. 1 seed is great, but our path is a lot more challenging than Northern's path. But that's not [Northern's] fault," said Huntingtown head coach Rob Soper, whose club's only loss came in 1-0 overtime fashion to SMAC champion Leonardtown –– the No. 2 seed in the 4A East. Huntingtown and Northern played to a scoreless tie during their regular season battle. "We have matchup issues with those [Stone and La Plata] teams. Especially in the La Plata game [during the regular season], it was a really physical game. On Thomas Stone's side, they have some very good players.

"When I get nervous is when I look at our side of the [regional] draw, and you have those unpredictable teams [in Chopticon, Stone and La Plata]. They can win a given game, and it's one-and-done in the playoffs."

Before Northern's current run of winning the last two 3A South crowns, Huntingtown pulled off the feat in 2005 and 2006.

Northern was the only SMAC team not to lose to Leonardtown in the regular season, finishing in a nothing-nothing tie. The only club to defeat Northern this year is North Point (9-3) by a 2-1 slight margin. North Point is randomly seeded fifth in the 4A East and poses a threat to any of the top-four seeds in that bracket.

Leonardtown will obviously be targeted by its 4A East competition, not solely because it is the reigning regional champion and has won the field in two of the last three years.

During those 2006 and 2008 postseason runs, Leonardtown also celebrated state championships after winning the region.

Though Leonardtown lost nine seniors from its state-title club of a year ago, the program proved it could reload quickly with its 12-1-1 waltz through the regular season –– sporting a SMAC-best 11-0-1 mark for a second straight league banner.

"We have to keep working hard and playing with intensity each match, and hopefully we'll represent SMAC well," Leonardtown head coach Jennifer Henderson said. "I have faith in my team. If they work together as a unit, they can be successful. Whether or not, we'll repeat [as regional and state champions], who knows? But we'll continue to work hard and do our best."

The winner of Thursday's Great Mills-Glen Burnie first-round game plays Leonardtown in the regional quarterfinals Tuesday, as Henderson's bunch received a bye in the opening round.

The most intriguing of the first-round regional games among the SMAC constituency involves archrivals Stone (5-5-3) and La Plata (5-6-1) in the 3A South.

Stone eked out a 1-0 home win over La Plata in September, and after a history of battling for bragging rights in Charles County over the years, the regional playoff draw has them squaring off again –– the winner emerging as a scary foe in the field.

In the 2A South, Calvert (7-4) earned the third seed and has a first-round bye. Calvert then plays the winner of the McDonough-Patuxent game, featuring the SMAC's other two teams in the region. Patuxent was 6-5-1 during the regular season, while McDonough went 4-8-1.

dcogle@somdnews.com